Profile: Pioneer senior Emily Cooper is back on pace for an amazing finish
Pioneer graduated some outstanding seniors off last year’s MHSAA Division 1 State Championship cross country team but there were a few younger standouts slated to return this year. Emily Cooper is one of those excellent runners who returned for another run around the state and despite an illness that kept her off her feet for a few weeks, the junior is starting to hit her stride.
“Yeah, I got sick and had to stop running for about a week but I was really, really excited to get back,” said Cooper, after winning last week’s SEC Jamboree 2 at Pioneer. “I had to get mentally back into it and once I did that, everything was OK. I tried to run while I was sick but my parents shut that down.”
On Sept. 7, Cooper ran a personal-best time of 17:55.5 to win the Shepherd John Bruder Classic. She then didn’t run competitively for 17 days because of her illness, returning on Sept. 24 to run in the Jackson Invitational where she ran third – despite limited training.
SEE WLAA JAMBOREE PHOTO GALLERY
Cooper crossed the finish line first at the SEC Jamboree 2 on Sept. 28 with a time of 18:43.0.
“It was really exciting,” she said of her run at the Jamboree, which her team easily won. “The last time we ran here on the Pioneer course I was just a sophomore so it was fun to run it again. I didn’t run in the first Jamboree, but our team still won which was awesome.”
Cooper placed seventh at the Centerville Saturday Night Lights on Saturday (Oct. 1) in 18:09.3. “I’m close to getting back to 100 percent,” she said.
Last year, Cooper helped lead the Pioneers to a Division 1 state title. She finished sixth (19:52.2) at the Regionals at Lake Erie Metropark and then placed 35th (18:44.4) at the State Finals at MIS where Pioneer easily won the whole thing with 68 points. Cooper also placed 48th at the NXR Midwest Regional Championships in Indiana.
As a sophomore, Cooper ran 14th at Regionals and then 95th (20:04.4) at the State Finals where Pioneer won the whole thing with 129 points.
Cooper is keeping her goals grounded, but she clearly has some high expectations and hopes to finish her already amazing high school career with a strong run to the finish line.
“I feel like every race I run I want to be there fighting for the top spot and really push myself to see how far I can go,” she says. “I don’t want to set any specific goal of where I want to finish at the State Meet. I just want to run the best that I can – that’s all I can ask for.”
This year’s team is a little different as far as experience and even expectations but the Pioneer cross country program always expects to compete with the best – and this year is no different.
Emily Cooper at last year’s State Finals at MIS.
“It was sad to lose some really good teammates off last year’s amazing team,” Cooper said. “But they set a really good precedent and a great example for all the younger runners. They showed us how to work hard and how to fight during a race. We have some really good runners this year stepping up.”
Cooper is still looking for that perfect fit when it comes to colleges but she plans on running at the next level. “I’m still trying to figure that out,” she says. “I’ve got a few I really like and it’s an exciting time.”
It’s also an exciting time for the Pioneer girls’ cross country team as they chase another state title in November.
